M&P Shield 2.0 housekeeping

Sometime in the coming week or two I’ll be bringing home an M&P Shield 2.0, as both my first handgun and first carry gun.

I’m wondering what I should do right off the bat with it. Clean and fresh oil, modifications, things like that. I’m going to be getting mag extensions, so that can be ruled out, but I’m open to hearing about anything else. I figure there are folks who have experience with this particular gun and the product line a whole, and would have advice for what to do right away.

Skip the modding, especially with a 2.0. Trigger is more than good enough as is. Spend that money instead on ammo and range time. Maybe, maybe buy tritium sights after you get a round count in the 4 digit range. Congrats on the purchase, and hope you enjoy it. As far as ammo, it's not really picky. No need to use anything +P, and cheap brass ammo will shoot just fine. Once you're confident in your shooting skills and are comfortable carrying it, maybe look into Hornady Critical Defense or Critical Duty, Federal HST, or other defensive minded rounds for every day carry. Good Kydex holsters can be found for around $30/$40 if you want to holster just the gun, and "sidecar" style holsters are more around $100 and a lot of times more comfortable.

I'm not quite sure what the style name is, but it's an appendix IWB holster that holds both the gun and a spare magazine. T-Rex Arms, Tier 1 Concealed, QVO, etc all sell similar style holsters like that. I have one from QVO and it's more comfortable than my gun-only holster from CVA.

I’ve been reading the manual a whole bunch, and plan on field stripping it a number of times. The manual does recommend cleaning before use, so that’s definitely happening. I think night sights are first on the list for mods now! But I’ll definitely be waiting for a bit. Thanks for the input!

You shouldn't do any upgrades based on keyboard warriors - use it and see how it feels and then decide which upgrades you might need. Hundreds of rounds down the barrel and you being comfortable with the gun are better than any upgrade.

You can take it apparts, clean it, and lube it before you go, but it's not really necessary.

Good price for range, brass cased ammo is around 17cpr. I’m happy with under 20cpr shipped to my door. I buy only online - local stores can’t compete with prices. I’ve fought from palmetto, freedom ammo, and some other vendors from ammoseek. Good luck, enjoy your new toy!

I don’t think there’s anything you have to do. I’d field strip it to get used to it. The takedown lever on M&Ps can be stiff at first.

I really like Battleborn grease for your slide rails. I’d expect the gun to be clean to start with but I’d put that up there.

I’d consider aftermarket fiber optic sights because I love them but I don’t think it’s a requirement. Just shoot it a bunch, man. The worst thing you can do with a carry gun is put a hundred rounds through it a year. Be proficient with it. Buy your first thousand FMJs on Brownells and get rid of it within two months.

The 2.0 trigger is much improved over the old trigger. But see if you can find someone with an apex duty carry trigger that will let you try it out. Triggers are pretty subjective but I like it alot more than traditional m&p triggers and it maintains a very safe trigger weight for carry. You may not find it necessary. Many people don’t with the 2.0. Night sights or fiber optics are a thing too if you want to enhance your sights.

Also, have at least a set of mags in stock config without extenders. Part of what makes the shield good is concealability, and mag extensions, especially in the carry mag, make the gun bigger in precicely the part that’s hardest to conceal. In fact, I think a shield with extended mags actually has a longer grip than an m&p 2.0 compact, which has 15 round flush fit mags. Basically, it makes sense to carry an extended backup mag, but if you’re using an extended carry mag on the shield you might as well move up a size where you’ll have similar concealability to extended shield mags, more shootability, and access to 15 and 17 round mags, which have much more capacity than extended shield mags.

I agree with the rest, its a solid gun out of the box. The only thing i did personally was add magguts internals to mine to make them 10+1, adds a slight amount to the baseplate and changes internal ot a Z spring adds 2 rounds. If you want concealment they make the Z spring that adds +1 without changing the dimensions of the magazine. other than that the guns fine out of the box. If you wanted to trick it out you could get an apex trigger while they are doing their apex deals but thats totally up to you, i think the trigger is perfectly fine the way it is.

Proper storage is a must, especially if you have kids. Otherwise, take it out to a few different ranges and see how it performs under different lighting conditions. That way you can decide if you want or need to upgrade the sites.

I also feel that any carry weapon should have a light as target identification is a must.

all solid advice. I strongly agree with a healthy break-in period. It's good for you and it's good for your gun. It's better to find out sooner than later if something isn't right.

I agree with the YouTube suggestion and only would add to watch every video you can find. Find out what people like, what they don't like. What they change and why. What ammo worked and more importantly, what ammo didn't work and why. It might save you some time and trouble.

The first gen M&P line didn't have a good grip texture for my money-- especially given how thin the single stack grip is-- but the 2.0's seem much better. Still, stick with the party line of shooting it several times on different days, especially before spending significant money, to see what you might like different.